Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation starts off on another level. Literally. In the first scene of the film, Tom Cruise runs from the ground and flies through the sky on the side of an airplane. It’s the film’s way of screaming at the audience, “You are in for a fucking crazy ride.” And then, it delivers. »7/31/15 11:27am Friday 11:27am

Marvel’s latest superhero movie, Ant-Man, is very well made. It has some good action and a few really clever bits. There are some funny parts, along with some not-that-funny parts. This movie pretty much gets the job done. But it’s not particularly memorable, or especially amazing. »7/17/15 11:50am 7/17/15 11:50am

Arnold Schwarzenegger is once again playing a machine cloaked in human skin in Terminator Genisys, but now he’s the most human thing in a plastic movie. Arnie’s trademark grimace looks rough around the edges, like a slab of petrified wood after years of erosion. In a movie that’s basically shitty comfort food, the… »7/01/15 1:15pm 7/01/15 1:15pm

You don’t realize just how crappy most action movies are, until you see something like Mad Max: Fury Road — a movie in which there are no “action scenes” because the action pretty much never stops. And the film’s constant sense of violent motion is in the service of incredible imagery and transcendant moments. »5/15/15 12:25pm 5/15/15 12:25pm

We’re awash in live-action adaptations of comic books lately, including several TV shows. But Netflix’s new Daredevil series still feels like something special. It pulls no punches, never winks at the audience, and perfectly captures the feel of the best Daredevil comics. Here’s our spoiler-free review.»4/02/15 6:30pm 4/02/15 6:30pm

Jupiter Ascending isn't just a mediocre film. It's also self-indulgent, and in love with its own excesses. It's like the sick love-child of Zardoz and Fifth Element. But what's really odd about Jupiter is that it wants to criticize opulence and selfishness, and yet it's a movie that thinks "more" is always "better." »2/06/15 12:31pm 2/06/15 12:31pm

This is one of those moments when a movie comes along that is so repugnant, and so bland, and so pretentious, that it's almost impossible to believe. And yet, like a voice from a burning bush, Exodus is an unbelievable event that will nevertheless lead thousands of people on a terrifying quest — to movie theaters. »12/12/14 4:17pm 12/12/14 4:17pm

The third movie in the Hunger Games series is supposed to be the one where the frame pulls back and reveals a bigger world than the teen arena of the first two. Instead, Mockingjay Part 1 does something more daring: it shows how all of the dystopian land of Panem is just the Arena writ large. Minor spoilers ahead...»11/21/14 12:27pm 11/21/14 12:27pm

Disney's new film, Big Hero 6, is a celebration of science and the joy of innovation. In the guise of a superhero origin story, it tells a smart, inventive tale about young science geeks who grapple with issues around the responsible use of technology. It's one of the best science-fiction films in ages. Minor spoilers… »11/07/14 3:04pm 11/07/14 3:04pm

Even in a year with some pretty notable superhero films, Birdman is a pretty significant movie about superheroes. This darkly surreal satire about an aging actor struggling with his superhero past is full of magical-realist touches and tugs at our national obsession with big heroic narratives. And here's why superhero… »10/22/14 6:06pm 10/22/14 6:06pm

It's not enough to say that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot is kind of a lousy movie. You want to be able to draw some kind of lesson from its crapness, or at least pick through the debris for some hint of what it could have been. To that end, here are all the ways that TMNT 2014 fails. »8/08/14 12:55pm 8/08/14 12:55pm

Two years ago, classic 90s anime/manga Rurouni Kenshin made its way to the big screen. It was an excellent live-action adaptation—easily one of the best I have ever seen. The second film, Rurouni Kenshin: Kyoto Inferno, is equally as well done—something even more impressive given the amount of story it has to cover. »8/04/14 7:30am 8/04/14 7:30am

Set five minutes into the future, Lucy is about the birth of a new kind of superhero. With Scarlett Johansson playing our eponymous ninja with mental superpowers, there's a lot of fantastic action here. But sadly, the movie makes some major mistakes, too. »7/25/14 5:13pm 7/25/14 5:13pm

Three years ago, audiences were blown away by Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a smart reimagining of the Apes franchise for the biotech age. Now ape protagonist Caesar is back in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, where humanity has been decimated by a plague and the planet's future is the grimmest you've ever seen. »7/11/14 1:52pm 7/11/14 1:52pm